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Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Damage to Japan's Economy May be Worse Than Thought

Japan’s earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis could deliver a bigger blow to that nation’s economy and U.S. manufacturers than originally estimated, some economists say, due to extended disruptions to Japan’s power grid and factory supply chains.

No. 1 automaker Toyota said it would halt operations at all its U.S. car-assembly plants through Saturday because of continued delays in part shipments from Japan.

Adobe Systems, the top maker of graphic-design software, said second-quarter profits will fall short of estimates. Japan is Adobe’s second-largest market after the U.S.

Some large U.S. electronics makers likely will shut down due to the temporary loss of components from Japanese suppliers, says Paul Martyn, vice president of consulting firm BravoSolution. Unlike steel or auto parts, electronics are tightly linked, and makers can’t easily shift to new suppliers, he says.More Here..

Tokyo water supply already shows high levels of nuclear contamination .This is only from the direct fallout on the reservoirs. These radioactive material accumulation levels will greatly increase in the water supply reservoir /dams supplying Tokyo shortly , as radioactive material “dust” is washed by rain and winds into the rivers feeding the big reservoirs of the water supply.News“Engineers at Japan’s damaged nuclear plant resumed work on reconnecting power as Tokyo authorities prepared to hand out bottled water to families after determining that tap water may be unsafe for babies. City officials will hand out 240,000 bottles today to 80,000 families, according to the local government. Radioactive iodine levels taken two days ago at a treatment facility in Katsushika ward were double the recommended limit for infants.” Elevated iodine levels in water and food triggered bulk buying at supermarkets even as the government says that health risks are minimal. “..Clearly 240,000 bottles of water will not go very far in the multimillion population of Tokyo.An inadequately prepared government is now using the pejorative language of “hoarding” in order to blame the peoples selfish criminality for the water shortage crisis. Seehttp://scienceblogs.com/casaubonsbook/2011/03/hoarding_vs_storing_examples_f.php

You've all seen those recommendations by the American Red Cross to store "3 days of food and water." They run occasionally in the newspaper, and every once in a while some political leader reminds you to do make sure you have that recommended supply. Realistically, however, we know historically that 3 days just isn't enough - and so do millions of Tokyo consumers who may or may not have had a supply of emergency water, but who anticipate, given events at the plant, that the water situation may further decline. What is hoarding, as opposed to the less pejorative "storing" or "stocking up" or "just making sure your baby has water next week as well as today?" Why are people so quick to use this language? We have no information in the story about how much total bottled water is available in Tokyo, but I would very much doubt it was enough to ensure adequate liquids to all the infants and young children in the city alone - that is, it is almost certain that in-stock bottled water was going to run out very rapidly once Tokyo's water supply was contaminated, even if everyone who needed it only bought a little. “Unfortunately, now is apparently also the time to blame the victims - to use the language of "hoarding" to blame shortages of supplies and inadequate planning on people trying to protect themselves. That may always be the case, but we don't have to either fail to plan ourselves, or accept the pejorative description for people just trying to get a safe glass of water."Do you have a store of clean water at your house ready in the event of an emergency? Or will you just rely on the disinfectent properties of silver to ptotect you from any radiation too?

I wonder how many Americans will die in Libya. Let's see, their conflict wasn't our issue but world peace maker Obama vowed to end all wars and suffering on earth. He didn't even go through Congress, he didn't talk with any generals, and nor did he inform the rest of the country before initiating us into this colossal operation.

My goodness. We have two "wars" still in process which are losing stability and will be a catastrophe when the Islamic Revolution(s) begins in the surrounding Arab nations. Our guys are never going to return home...

No matter! President Wilson is going to make sure Quackoffee will stop murdering his people while letting what may come out to be tens of thousands of his own troops die in a war that we had no business getting engaged in. This is going to be incomparably worse than Iraq and Afghanastan combined.

This is their fucking problem, the Libyans were dealing with this the way they were destined to just as any other horrible civil strife leads to. They may get so pissed at the very sight of us that the Rebels would decide to team up with their government to try and get the infidel out.

Is this the Progressive way of dealing with things everywhere in the world? They must have cops come to your property to deal with any domestic dispute instead of families sorting it out themselves. Same way here, they must send their guys to slaughter and get slaughtered just because they can't be happy unless humanity is getting destroyed in some way.

Yes, that is "game over" for Japanese as a world leader. However, people have currently more pressing needs even than to ponder the demise of their hopes - fresh water. Your readers might be interested in how to treat their radioactively contaminated drinking water:http://crisismaven.wordpress.com/2011/03/22/dangers-properties-possible-uses-and-methods-of-purification-of-radioactively-contaminated-drinking-water-e-g-in-japan/A Japanese translation seems underway, see comment by Takuya there. Maybe someone wants to help with other languages?

I hate to say it, but we needed this badly. Japan was kicking our asses in terms of economic ability. Their economy is something like 8 trillion while the US is 12, but considering how tiny they are that's actually really bad for the US.

Now out of this tragedy the US has a chance to get back into shape. US auto manufacturers should use this golden opportunity to seize the market with quality products and aggressive pricing.